Is it necessary for you to learn photography?

The Nikon Z9 camera has been officially announced, and I'm sure you'll agree that it looks absolutely stunning, regardless of which camera system you're currently using. It's definitely on my Christmas list, though I'm sure it'll be out of date by the time I can afford it.

I was quite impressed after watching the announcement video and reading it. However, when I saw this new mirrorless camera, that grumpy old man inside of me came out... you know, the one who started muttering about young whippersnappers and walked the 12 miles to school (up both ways). You get the idea.

I'm curious how much knowledge of how photography works today is required to take great photos. Aside from cost concerns, it appears that modern cameras are designed to do a lot of thinking for shooters. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're already familiar with the exposure triangle and how light works. This means you can delegate much of it to technology, allowing you to concentrate on composition and creativity rather than technical aspects.

Is this useful for new photographers, or does it imply that they did not properly learn their craft and rely too heavily on the camera to do everything for them? What happens if they're in the middle of a paid shoot and a complicated lighting situation arises that the camera, despite its technological sophistication, is unable to solve?

I believe that having a solid understanding of light and how the camera captures light will enable the photographer to manually rotate the settings to get the shot. This is especially true during events where time can fly by and a lack of knowledge can result in a missed shot.

In the past, I learned a lot about photography by using old film SLR cameras. They don't offer assistance and won't forgive you if you don't do it correctly.

You won't see a plain white or solid black frame until the film is developed (or during the development process) if you don't rotate the proper settings before taking the shot because you over or underexposed the shot.

It forces you to learn how it works, and I believe it was an important part of my growth as a photographer.

To this day, I believe that forced learning on older film SLRs helped me deal with lighting situations better. I'm still shooting with an older DSLR (Nikon D750) and haven't made the switch to mirrorless. I don't mind; it served its purpose for the time being, and as much as I'd like to buy a Z9 right now, I won't.

I'm not opposed to mirrorless cameras or modern technology. Certainly not. I think the current camera system is fantastic, and I intend to purchase one soon. I'm confident I'll enjoy it.

Do they make it more difficult or easier for new photographers to learn important aspects of the photography craft? Could it be that by relying on the camera to do all of the thinking for us, we've forgotten how to take pictures? Is there a distinction to be made?

If you haven't seen the Nikon Z9 announcement yet, you should do so on YouTube or the Nikon website. This is really impressive.

Have a wonderful day and stay safe. Until the next time we meet.